A Budgeteer's Adventure

CharlieKat

Wow! It has been ages since I last posted - I must go back and read some of the things I posted before. i was going to start a new diary but thought i may as well carry on here

I still have a mortgage and i still have other debt. My main focus is clearing the other debt whilst maintaining the set overpayment to the mortgage.

I was hoping for a NSD today however, I needed to finish the food shop - mostly stuck to the list - only 1 extra item purchased :T

However, popped into a local mini supermarket on way home as i bought some reduced meals from there a few weeks ago and froze them out of the box / sleeve thing and wasn't sure how long to reheat them for :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: So i popped in to take a pic of the instructions;) I don't often buy ready done meals but as this was a curry it was cheaper than the planned take away but we ended up not eating it at the time due to other leftovers so it was all frozen :T An easy meal this weekend now

Anywho's whilst in said shop i noticed some reduced bottles of my mums favourite drink - so i bought 2 different flavours and will stash these away for her birthday - £15.75 paid instead of £40 so i am pleased with that and that a gift has been sorted out

Whilst i didn't achieve a no spend day today, the spending was considered and bargainous so i should be happy with that.

So that's recent update - what else? I'm still in the same job and house so no major changed there. I've been 'living' more these last few months which is good as i'm meeting new people, going out more and doing things i can never 'afford' to do. Part of the reason i need to post on here is to keep me mindful of having fun on a budget

Sig will be updated next week.

I have some upcoming expenses:

new glasses are needed - i was hoping not
new lights need to be fitted on car.
MOT will be due soon
my phone has broken. i am managing without for now.

I am going to focus on the food bill to try and reduce outgoings. I'm going to declutter to try and raise income.

good to be back posting. i hope everyone is doing well

CharlieKat

Been very under the weather since my last post but wanted to log in and update sig.

All done. Not up to dealing with plans for tackling the overdraft. It's less than that now but i will update on pay day so i know where i am.

CharlieKat

Arrived in work earlier than expected today. I used the time productively by considering my outgoings. I've never posted an SOA it wouldn't work - probably a part of the reason there is some debt.
Of the few things i jotted down that i *should* save for monthly but don't - new glasses noted in earlier post being a prime example - I popped down presents, and then broke this down further.

I thought £50 a month which will give me a surplus on the £500 i had in my head. Broke it down further to people, birthday and xmas budget as appropriate and it came in at £650! :eek: I was suitably shocked. Especially as i have a tendency to be too generous - friend's birthday next week and i would have gone over budget by buying them the other gift i had in mind! And i mean very over budget, not just a £1 or £2 which would still be important to be aware of.

Over a third of this is Mr CKat's present. We stopped buying each other gifts a while ago, preferring to spend on experiences. This is now usually a cheery adventure somewhere for a wee holiday, for both of us. It is a high spend but is part of the life we want to live that make us happy no compromise there then.

However, i will now be more aware with other family members and friends and will make cutbacks as appropriate. Feel happier noting this

Unfortunately, still too under the weather to properly plot things out but i have made a start and that is important.

I need to list all these things i should save for then i'll know what the total target aim is. Things will get easier

CharlieKat

Not the best worded question ever :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Basically, i want to move house. I cannot afford to do so. My income is low and savings very low since the third redundancy (minimumal redundancy payments). To manage financially on the very low JSA i got i used the credit i had access to to keep up with the mortgage and other bills.

I am thinking in 2 years time, with the debt gone and the mortgage lower what will be the best way to move? We would like to keep this house as a rental property. So i guess i'm pondering if it's better to take some money out of the equity in this house and use that as a deposit?

I really don't know where to look into this and am more popping the thoughts in my head down on paper.
I had originally been thinking pay off this house, save deposit, buy another house then realised this may not be the best option..

any info / input welcome

Once i'm feeling better i am going to sort through some books and clothes to sell and use the money towards paying off the overdraft. That will definitely make me feel better

CharlieKat

i should note today was an nsd

yesterday i contacted a company where i'd been charged for something i didn't think i should be and got a refund :T

trying to keep up with 0nepoll

CharlieKat

Hello diary

Well today wasn't so bad really. I am a little better than i was - although i've left myself a ton of work to catch up with both in work and general cleaning tidying at home stuff. i'm hopeful of a day at home on Sunday as with the rushing about i'll need to do tomorrow and friday i am likely to delay getting back to 100%

Well, lots to update on - first - just how hard is it to write a shopping list and stick to it? And why is that the case?

I have receipts here to analyse so we'll know where i'm at.

Bear in mind my list had maybe 10 things on it at the most..

Petrol £44.99 done big to remind myself of it later.

Onto the food shopping.

Bought 39p reduced price rolls for tea - i was going to have jacket potatoes - i'm home so very late i'm glad i bought these mind. NOT ON THE LIST

This was in shop 1 - i called in there to pick up an item with a voucher so all good there.

Shop 2 i bought:

4 boxes of cat food
3 bottles of wine

Spent £24.30 right on target happily

Shop 3 i spent

£4.36

£16.40

£14.99 :eek:

Shop 4 i spent

£5.81 :eek:

Yes there are 3 receipts for shop 3 as i couldn't carry everything

Where did all the money go? Of a total spend of £41.56 which, only a small portion was budgeted?Shop 2 was fully budgeted so not included in total.

A perusal of the receipts tells me..

£6.26 went on meat which would have cost £31.50 at full price. All happily frozen and will make at least 20 meals :T - there are some humongous joints in there which were already on offer before being reduced

88p went on reduced fruit, veg and flowers - flowers may not be most money saving but they are very jolly and the fruit will be eaten in the next day or so and the veg tomorrow :T

£20.45 went on cat food and treats - the treats were the only item not reduced and just 1 pack purchased £1 - the remaining £19.45 got me £56.95 worth of cat food :T It was all reduced - i couldn't believe how lucky i was to get it. Now, with 3 they don't all like the same food so i will still be buying next week as the 2 main reductions were on 2 types of food and i will get about £2 back off that also

£1 went on a gift which was reduced and now i've finished buying for that friend and am under budget - so glad i decided to look at planned spends on things the other day :T

£7.14 went on bird feed :eek: That sounds alot but there was a clearance and i got a feeder and all sorts of wonderful treats - some at 10% of the price. I can't work it all out now but this will save money for some months to come :T We did need some feed - just not the vast quantities i bought and there was still lots left for others

Leaving mainly the list things which i bought and a few frivolous off list things 50p on cake - surely that should have been on the list :rotfl: 20p on toppings for rolls which will do for today and for us both tomorrow 5p on some toffee that has a very long date on it and £1.08 paid for a kitchen utensil and some festive silly fun hat things for Xmas :D

CharlieKat

whoops posted accidentally..

Put like that it doesn't seem so bad - but should i have got the cake, toffee, extra bits noted?

The spending didn't end there.

60p to charity buying 3 books - 1 by one of my most favourite authors :T 1 for Mr CKat - and a wonderful looking book about preserving :T:D it looks like new :T and it certainly looks like a lovely way to spend a few hours curled up on the sofa having a wee read whilst plotting and planning. And in the long run may save me some money if i start to make my own :rotfl:

Anyway, i kinda have a philosophy that if something is couple of pounds, like literally £2 or less, i am quite strict on that, and it intrigues me enough, it is worth that spend for a few hours of interest. If that makes sense. Oh and 60p is a small amount to the charity but i regularly donate books there - or did with the debt to clear i will be looking at selling sites but they may not want the books i'm selling. we will see.

CharlieKat

Well i should really be in bed by now but wanted to quickly pop on to remind myself

- i completed the budgetry soa sortof..

I didn't work out net worth, if that's what it does but i used it to calculate the amount i need to set aside for the annual / quarterly expenses - known as Annual Bills as well as noting fixed spends such as the mortgage etc and finally the 'room for improvement category' ie bills i can reduce such as the food bill - maybe i should reread all my spending earlier :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

i also came up with a bit of a plan. a rough plan, but better than none.

I can't be bothered getting up and getting my bullet journal but the figure i need to set aside a year is several thousand pounds :eek: Will explain when have figure and workings.

Plan is, by February 2020 to have cleared overdraft and 1 credit card. balance of Mortgage will then be about £44,800.

From February / March i will then clear 2 credit cards by August 2020. Leaving 2 remaining to clear by August 2021. balance of mortgage should be about £35,000 ideally less but overpayments are capped and these are my rough workings.

With all this debt clearing and overpayments i can't afford to fully fund the Annual Bills account. So i'll be popping ad hoc payments into the account i have set aside for this purpose. The ad hoc payments will come from the odd surplus (though not so much as that money needs to clear the debt) But, to feel i'm doing something any pay increase will be popped in there too. My wage went up about £4 a month last time so, it may not be loads, but its a start.

The plan is, when it's finally fully funded to set amount i will then start to draw from it for things needed and monitor accordingly. eg

say balance needed is £6,000. I have £6,000 in my account. I need medicine. I buy said medicine say £8. Pay for it on my card (to earn points) pop home and transfer £8 from account with a note to self, on payday / surplus to top this amount back up.

phew. it makes sense to me. that way i won't have to find £6k all in one go again and budgeting will be easier to manage.. she says :rotfl:

Still it's all a while away and i'm not perfect but i *am* very pleased to be thinking about all this and doing something about it :j

next stop is clearing the overdraft - which won't blummin happen if i keep buying cakes for 50p and books for 20p :rotfl: but i do need a plan for that. And a clear out. Bedroom is burstingly full so that shall hopefully get tackled this weekend as i am hopeful of feeling better and also having time.

main plans for overdraft clearance are:

reduce outgoings where can: buy only food which is needed, walk wherever possible to save petrol (commute is 60 mile round trip so fuel is costly)

increase income: sell, sell, sell, survey, survey, survey, switch, switch, switch - MUST look at switching leccy and gas THIS WEEKEND!! Am expectting £50 survey money next month - almost forgot that good news :j and have a cheque for £50 to pay in but commute has foiled that so far - back too late to get to the bank. Owed to me for a while but i had to wait. Wow - that's £100 right there already excellenty

Right bed

CharlieKat

Realised i could pop food and petrol spends in my sig to keep an eye on it - yesterday i spent more than double what i intended :eek: However, i appreciate i do not always see bargains when i shop and i was just very lucky on this occasion.
The plan now is to continue with what i had intended - using what we have
I have eaten a reduced pasta i bought some time ago :T And i will be looking at what we have in and the best way to use this over the weekend.

updated sig includes the annual spends i need to save for - £2000 is for holidays - i have never worked out what i contribute so i will do, however, i'd rather over estimate at this point. i have a budget in there for hairdressing - £100 - the last time i had my hair cut was almost 18 months ago and whilst it won't cost £100 it may be something i need to have done more regularly and i wanted to ensure there was money there - although there isn't yet :rotfl: it's all just planning and knowledge though which i am embracing as good things

NSD today which is an improvement on yesterday Already flicked through my preserving book :smileyhea

what else? Oh i still need to pay the cheque into the bank that i have and hopefully i should get the next cheque next month too. I will, although i wasn't going to tonight, clear the top of the chest of drawers. I don't expect to find saleable items - it's not that bad with things on :rotfl: but it'll be a productive start :T

CharlieKat

On clearing the chest of drawers i realised i'd put clothes there to put in my bag for exercise class that i had to miss this week with being ill. I now need to sort the gym bag out :rotfl: Oh well - i like posting things on here, it means i get things done

so that's the next job after a little read around on here